Print is Dead: Books in Our Digital Age

A few weeks ago I read an essay on the Poynter Institute’s website by Roy Peter Clark entitled “Your Duty to Read the Paper.” Clark’s essay is basically a misdirected manifesto wherein he pledges to read newspapers everyday, and tries to rally others around the same idea. His argument is filled with all kinds of defensive declarations, such as “The future of journalism, not just newspapers, depends upon such loyalty [to read newspapers everyday]. And now I pose this challenge to you: It is your duty as a journalist and a citizen to read the newspaper — emphasis on paper, not pixels.”

This is a completely ridiculous notion. The future of journalism depends first and foremost on meeting the needs of readers. After this comes the need for better business models and for newsgathering organizations to embrace change and find a way to coexist with our digital age. But Clark’s blinded by the worthiness of his profession’s glorious past, writing that, “I owe it to hard-working journalists everywhere — and to the future of journalism — to read them. It’s no longer a choice. It’s a duty.” He ends his essay by saying, “So join me, even you young whipper-snappers. Read the paper. Hold it in your hand. Take it to the john. Just read it.”

This is completely the wrong approach to take. I mean, to force print down people’s throats as if it’s a vegetable they don’t want to eat is just about the worst strategy I’ve ever heard of. (Believe me, when I was a kid I hated lima beans, and my mom insisted I eat them; I dutifully shoved them down my prepubescent gullet, but as an adult I never touch them). So to try and guilt people to read print implies that to do so is a sacrifice; worse, that’s it’s a kind of punishment. It turns reading newspapers into a kind of penance for a digital life, a modern-day flogging in the form of papercuts and inky fingerprints.

Just because something’s on paper doesn’t make it divine; it doesn’t even make it good. But Clark’s just interested in cozying up with newspapers in his breakfast nook, feeling all warm and sanctimonious. Meanwhile, I’ll be reading The New York Times on my laptop, and doing just fine.